jarhead#42

Basically he called me a liar ! I toook my trek to his shop because my rear tire need to be straightened . It turned out that my rear hub was broken so he sells me a rim and hub the wrondg size . The tire tube wasnt the right size and it blew . When I took it back he accused me of switching tubes lol . What an idiot . Any advice beside putting the name of the bike shop on my back as I do my routine 7000 miles a year around the area ?? Never had my integrety questioned before . This is a first . I fell like telling him off but I wont sink that low.
jarhead

cuda2k

Best I can suggest is talk to the owner of the shop. Tell him you don't appriciate having your integrety questioned by the employees and that you will likely take your business elsewhere. For something as cheap as a tube, I am surprised the guy gave you lip about it. Probably was trying to cover his own mistake as he's probably made one too many and already in hot water with his boss.

Boss Moniker

You sure he wasn't just saying it jokingly because it was his fault? It was his fault anyway, but I'd just laugh and say "It's alright". If he really wants to be a dick about it, have him check the trash and maybe the records for which tube he used. Truth is, he probably doesn't even remember now, and if he wasn't outright mean, it's not that big of a deal.

Weird story, though.

Pete Hamer

What exactly happened here? Are you trying to say he sold you a new wheel with a different size rim than the original and therefore the original tire and tube were not compatible? Was this a 650b wheel or something? If he sold you a wheel with the wrong size rim for your bike then you should return the wheel.

roadfix

I'm confused.

KrisPistofferson

Go Jarhead!

Phantoj

+1

The size of the tube has nothing to do with a tire blowing out. Size of the tire vs. size of rim, yes.

operator

Well uh accoring to the OP. He had a tube that blew out, which also wrecked his rear hub and he's mad because the bike shops said he swapped out the tube. Right.

Next incrompehensible thread please.

superslomo

They don't always give the right advice. I ran across a guy who had a flat, just asked directions to the LBS, but it turned out he had a tube with him and didn't really know how to change it out. I offered to help, and took out the old tube, replacing with the one he had with him.

The guy at the shop (with his bike standing next to him) had sold the guy a 700x18-23 for his hybrid with 28s on the wheel. They were also long-stem, with no threads on them (he didn't have deep rims).

I put the tube in and pumped it up to pressure but told him that it might not last the way the right width tube would, and that he might want to switch to a larger tube... not the end of the world, but I was sort of surprised that a bike shop sold him what was clearly not the right tube for what he needed.

Pete Hamer

The person at the shop should have been more careful but the customer also should have double checked what tube he bought.There's a reason they put the tire size on the sidewall. LBS employees are not perfect, sometimes far from it. That's why I beleive in educating consumers. It's always good to know the basics about the things you are buying so that you can make smart purchases. When I buy spark plugs for my truck I always measure the gap of the new plugs and compare it to what the manual sais it should be.

cooker

Jarhead, your post is hard to understand. what size of tube did he sell you that blew?

InTheTrenches

Wow. just...wow. A post about a the mechanic questioning the credibility of a customer. IN Bike Forums, amazing.
Made all the sweeter by an OP that has his picture next to incomprehensible in the dictionary.

"The guy at the shop (with his bike standing next to him) had sold the guy a 700x18-23 for his hybrid with 28s on the wheel. They were also long-stem, with no threads on them (he didn't have deep rims)."

REALLY? Hand on the bible? The guy had his bike right there on the counter and the shop guy, knowing full well that the tube presented was the wrong one just up and sold it to him anyway. Damn, that is rough.
I bet that shop guy had a customer or two treat him like an idiot when he questioned their tube choice and decided the best thing was to keep his mouth shut rather than suffer the verbal smack of a customer(Who needed help performing the most basic task of changing a tube).

'nother

Fortunately, "the customer is always right". Or at least, incomprehensible.

juanblanco

if he wants to pop ****, pop clips.

humble_biker

I think putting the name of the LBS on your back is a great idea. Oh and don't type and drink at the same time.

superslomo

InTheTrenches:

Dude.

Excuse me, but I can relay what was told to me by the guy stranded by the side of the road. Would it be possible that an otherwise normal person would lie to me about being sold the wrong tube that morning (MS Ride) on HIS WAY TO THE RIDE?

I guess that's conceivable.

Not likely... but conceivable, maybe.

-Guy on hybrid bike (check. hand on bible)
-guy has 700x28 tires (check. hand on bible)
-aforementioned guy has flat, has tube (check. hand on bible)
-tube is long stem (check. hand on bible)
-tube is MARKED "700x18-23" (check. etc.)

Do you think that maybe it is likely that the guy at the shop ASKED him what kind of bike or tire or tube he had/wanted/needed? Is that such a leap of faith, when someone doesn't know how to change a tube themselves that they would just ask when they went to buy one? Is it so inconceivable that they would end up needing a tube before going on a ride that is longer than usual for them? I'm not saying it was malicious, but might have been just an honest mistake.

Maybe it will smell a little less of vinegar in here now that I'm excluding hearsay evidence, counselor?

well biked

I have no idea what the OP is trying to say, but I do know this: some of the most knowledgeable bike people I know work at bike shops. And some of the the people I've met, who work at bike shops, have a bicycle IQ that consists solely of having done a quick memorization of the current year's Trek catalog. I've been in my LBS's enough to know who is who. Unfortunately for most, who don't know who really knows their stuff and who doesn't, they're just as likely to have Mr./Ms. "I've got the catalog memorized so now I'm an expert" wait on them as someone who can give them the benefit of some real expertise-

peripatetic

+1.

Your sarcasm is more incomprehensible than the OP, Inthetrenches. Why so defensive? Why so bitter? Sorry to break it to you, but LBS workers screw up, just like everyone else. And some (not all) tend to assume the customer's the idiot and was therefore responsible for any damage to their bike.

I had a friend who came to me recently after she went to get her blown tube replaced at the lbs. Soon after she got the new tube, the tire went completely flat. She brought it to my place, I pumped up the tire and then listened and watched as it immediately went dead: "pffffffffft." The problem? LBS worker had put a schrader tube on a presta rim. If I hadn't told her, my friend may have gone and got another replacement tube with a schrader valve. Then she would have started entertaining the notion that she or the bike was cursed (non-mechanical people do think this way about mechanical things). I encouraged her to go back and at least get a good tube she had paid for, but I don't think it was worth her time. I know this LBS, and I know the owner, and I know he'd be really pissed at his employee for having screwed that up. I don't hold it against the LBS, but I reserve the right to roll my eyes at the dumbness of the error.

Reason a lot of people complain about lbs performance in BF is that a lot of people here know enough to realize that someone's screwed up, or that the nasty attitude they got wasn't warranted by their lack of ignorance.

Get over it, it's not your problem.

Pete Hamer

Yes, LBS workers screw up. We know that. We don't claim to be perfect. Many LBS employees lack training and experience. They need gentle guidance, not public ridicule. It's unpleasant to have someone go onto a public forum and ridicule you behind your back. Remember, there's two sides to every story.

I don't see LBS employees starting threads that rip on cutomers. The problem if we did that is that we would be offending all the people in the group that we are talking about. The same goes for customers starting threads that rip on LBS employees, it makes it look like all LBS employees are bad.

In The Trenches, I understand you frustration , but I don't think attacking the O.P. is going to help our case.

well biked

Read InTheTrenches' signature line. You don't have to start threads to offend with a statement like that at the bottom of all your posts.........As I said in my earlier post, I know some very knowledgeable LBS folks that have helped me a lot over the years. Most of them are owners or partners in their LBS, however, and have been immersed in bicycles for many years. And some shops seem to be able to keep good employees on, and these employees do eventually become very knowledgeable and can really help with a tough question or problem. But unfortunately, there also seems to be a turnover rate that's quite high in the bike shop industry, and therefore you often have very, very inexperienced personnel playing the "expert." It's human nature that an employee will take on the attitude that "I work in a bike shop now, so now I'm an expert on bikes." For that matter, that attitude is part of their job. Who would buy a bike from someone who says, "well, I really know very little about bikes, but if it were me, I'd buy this one" ? So I'm not blaming anyone, this is just the way it is. But to assume that all LBS personnel have a high degree of competence is incorrect, from my experience. And I realize that in your post, Pete Hamer, you were acknowledging this, I'm speaking more to InTheTrenches' post-

2manybikes

lyledriver

How does one fit a shrader valve through a presta hole in the first place?

This thread sucks.

slowandsteady

hammer

peripatetic

Yeah, sure, like you haven't tried .

cyclotoine

High end LBS' are like car dealerships. The salespersons know the specs but the mechanics are in the back. However, the mechanic know what is good and bad from the past because they have seen which designs eventually showed flaws and which have held up over time. Often the person on the floor selling you an inner tube is the salesperson who can easily make a mistake like that. An experienced mechanic would never make that mistake, but they are not on the floor. Smaller LBS are likely to be somewhat different of course.